Two views of a New England pond under a full moon

[DanK]

Went out to do a little night photography last night. The full moon is exceptionally large this weekend. C&C welcome, of course. Best in the lytebox (litebox?).

[Mike Buckley]

Both are just gorgeous, Dan. Great colors and compositions. I especially like the bent reflections of the trees in the first one and the two-and-a-half subtle star trails in the second one as especially nice touches.

[Ziggy]

Very well done Dan.

Saw the big moon come up over the White Mountains Friday night in New Hampshire and then saw it rise over the Atlantic Saturday night and tonight in Rockport Maine.

[Cogito]

Dan, you lucky man! being able to take these 2 images within 45 minutes!!!! Well done, both beautiful.

[Hans]

I like! Gentle, calm, beautiful.

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[John 2]

Nicely done Dan. What exposure times did you need?

[IzzieK]

Dan...superb shots on both of them. On the first one, the coloured lights at the end is a big surprise to me. whole bendy reflections is a different view. Was this done after edit or it is the way it really looks like when you shot the scene? In the second one another beautiful scene. Can't fault that from a good photographer like you.

[DanK]

Thanks, all. John and Tony: to fit in enough shots, I took shortcuts. These are 5 and 6.5 minute exposures. The right way to do this is at base ISO and with subtractive (long exposure) noise turned on. The latter takes a second, black shot of the same length. It was still really dark, and I was using a small aperture because I couldn't focus accurately. Given that, the longer exposure would have been 25 minutes at ISO 100, plus another 25 for the second, black shot! So, I used ISO 400 and no noise reduction. Even with a quiet camera like mine (5D3), that left me with some mess to clean up and a final image not as clean as I would like.

Izzy--I didn't do any editing of that sort. The pond was mostly wild but had developed areas in sight in a few places. The editing was all tonality adjustments, clarity, vibrance, sharpening, and local noise reduction (on the water but nowhere else).

[madcrow]

Two fabulous images everything about them is beautiful, sharp, great detail and colours. A very well done.

[JohnRostron]

Great shots. Like Izzie, I was intrigued by the inclined reflections. The only explanation I can think of is that there was a slight wind in one direction which shaped the ripples on the surface to reflect more strongly in one direction. The ripples were then smoothed out by the long exposure.

John

[Wavelength]

So beautiful!!!!

[terrib]

My feelings pretty well echo Mike's. The bending reflections are intriguing. Beautiful images!

[bnnrcn]

Great shots Dan , I love them

[DanK]

Thanks, all. I haven't figured out the curved reflections

[IzzieK]

I am going in James thoughts here -- slight wind.

[Stagecoach]

Excellent work Dan.